Rostov, Russia
A Russian colonel who kidnapped, raped, and murdered a Chechen teenager was found not guilty by reason of temporary insanity last week. The trial of Yuri Budanov, which took more than a year, was widely seen as a test of the army’s willingness to punish appalling human rights abuses by soldiers in the breakaway Russian province of Chechnya. Budanov admitted killing the girl, Elga Kungayeva, but said he was very drunk at the time and thought she was a sniper who had killed several of his men. “What can be said about justice in Chechnya?” Arsen Sakalov, head of the Chechnya Justice Initiative, told The New York Times. “Everything that happens proves that there is no justice there.”
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Peter Mandelson called Epstein his 'best pal' in birthday noteSpeed Read The UK's ambassador to Washington described the late convicted paedophile as an 'intelligent, sharp-witted man'
-
'Vampire energy' could be causing your electric bill to riseUnder the Radar Wasted energy could account for up to 10% of home use
-
A Spinal Tap reunion, Thomas Pynchon by way of Paul Thomas Anderson and a harrowing Stephen King adaptation in September moviesthe week recommends This month's new releases include 'Spinal Tap II,' 'One Battle After Another' and 'The Long Walk'
